lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, women with disabilities, Moro and Indigenous
women, and women living in geographically inaccessible areas. In many instances, health
facilities are inaccessible or absent in geographically inaccessible areas, and in cases
where they are present and accessible, challenges are posed as to the sufficiency of
facilities and equipment and of the supplies of the commodities available.
Interviews in government health facilities and with government health workers
and service providers often yielded positive results with claims that there is an excess of
RH commodities and goods. In all government facilities visited, except in Sorsogon City,
the Barangay Health Stations and Rural Health Units were able to show and share with
the Commission the full range of family planning commodities available. Most shared
that they have not yet experienced the effect of the PhP1 Billion cut on RH commodities
and that the lack of supplies they experience are not from lack of available supply but a
matter of timely seeking re-supply from RHU’s and the DOH. There were however
admissions from government health service providers and health workers that facilities
and equipment are sometimes lacking or inadequate and could still be improved in BHS,
RHUs and lying in clinics. There is also acknowledgment from health workers that there
is difficulty in meeting the standards of doctor/nurse/midwife ratio to population served.
More often than not, human health resources are insufficient and are overburdened in
the areas/LGUs that they serve.
From the perspective of rights holders and women from the community, the
National Inquiry interviews continue to reveal inconsistency on the de facto or actual
availability, accessibility, sufficiency, and adequacy of RH services and information. In the
15 regional consultations, while there is a consensus that RH goods and services were
generally available and that LGUs, except Sorsogon City, are supportive, participants
continue to bewail lack of information regarding RH services and on issues of actual
accessibility of goods and services. Across the five cluster areas and the 15 Regional
Consultations, accounts of health centers seeking donations were still documented; some
claimed it is already tantamount to selling. There were also accounts of health centers
refusing to dispense and provide RH commodities by reason of discrimination and at
times favoritism, partisanship or kinship. There were accounts of unethical and
unprofessional behavior of health workers, and of delays in referral resulting in maternal
deaths. In the island provinces of Mindanao, there were accounts that health centers lack
personnel due to security reasons, and there were various accounts of the absence of
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